Bowling for Columbine

About the film:

Bowling for Columbine is directed by Michael More, who we also see in the film. It won an Oscar for Best Documentary in 2003. The film was very popular and sold a lot of tickets but it has not only been praised but also criticized and discussed. So what do you think?

  1. Before watching the filmBowling for Columbine, discuss the following sentences in groups:
  • The Americans are a peace-loving nation.
  • I admire American values.
  • The USA fights for democracy and freedom.
  • The American president is a good leader.
  • The Americans are a violent people.
  • The USA welcomes immigrants.
  • Only material wealth matters in the USA.
  • American families resemble Danish families.
  • America’s rich do not care about the poor.
  • Handguns should be legal for everyone to defend themselves.
  • Guns should be illigal to buy for anything else than hunting.
  • Violence is never the right answer.
  • Sometimes war cannot be avoided.
  • We can be optimistic about the future.

1

  1. Vocab: explain the words.

1

  • Documentary
  • Feature film
  • Fire arms
  • Rifle association
  • Homicides
  • Account
  • Armed
  • Duty
  • Defend
  • Rally
  • Appalled
  • Expelled
  • Suspects
  • Loaded
  • Injured
  • Mourning
  • Victims
  • Dress code
  • Threat
  • Weird
  • Alienated
  • News coverage
  • Entertainment

1

  1. Questions after having seen the film.

(En stjerne: spørgsmål 1- 8, to og tre stjerner: alle spørgsmål)

  1. What is the documentary about – and what do you think of it?
  2. How is America described?
  3. What is your opinion on the introduction? Michael Moore opens an account in a bank and gets a gun for free.
  4. A man from the Michigan Militia says it is your own responsibility to protect your self – what do you think about that?
  5. Why do so many Americans have guns in their homes? What is your view on that?
  6. What are some of the consequences at other schools in America after the massacre at ColumbineHigh School? – and what do you think of it?
  7. Different persons tell us who they think is to be blamed for the Columbine shootings (society, movies, games, parents, Marilyn Manson) Who do you think it is to blame? Why?
  8. Why do you think Eric and Dylan killed 12 students, a teacher and themselves?
  9. Charlton Heston is the president of the NRA. What is his role in this discussion about weapon? What is his role in America?
  10. What is the role of the weapon industry?
  11. Why do you think 11.127 people get shot in America compared to other countries?
  12. In the movie we are told that Canadians do not shoot each other and that they feel safe. What is the difference between Canada and America?
  13. Why is the film called Bowling for Columbine?
  14. What does Michael Moore want to achieve by making this documentary?
  15. Do we have similar problems here in Denmark?
  16. Do you think all Americans are as Michael Moore describes them?

Exercise:

In class: Make a campaign: Pro and against guns. (½ of the class in groups against, ½ of the class pro). You might get some help from these pages. Against: Pro:

Discussing the documentary genre

What is a documentary? Comment on the following sentences:

A: A documentary is an objective presentation of actual events in the world.

B: A documentary can never be objective. The filmmaker always shows his/her own views and beliefs and his/her intentions shine though the film.

C: A documentary shows reality as it is because the camera does not lie.

D: The truth depends on the eye that sees, and there can never be just one truth but always more.

E: The filmmaker has a duty to present the truth in a documentary; otherwise he might as well have directed a feature film.

F: Documentaries is part of the entertainment industry.

G: Filmmakers, also the ones making documentaries, will go far to sell tickets.

H: Who cares, as long as it is entertaining?

  • Discuss if you think Bowling for Columbine lives up to your demands.
  • Is it as a documentary should be in your opinion?
  • It won an Oscar for Best Documentary in 2003. Do you think it is worth an Oscar?
  • Comment on the way Michael More uses music, old film-clips, and commercials and so on. What do you think about it?

Read the email written by Kate Battan: Mr. Moore’s movie takes poetic license.

While reading it: note down the factual errors in Bowling for Columbine.

Questions:

A: what is Kate Battan’s main objection to the film? Do you agree?

B: Does this email change the way you feel about the film?

C: Is the title: Bowling for Columbine still valid?

Extra: The USA: a nation of fear?

Green day: American Idiot:Watchthe music video at You Tube.And read the lyrics here

1

American Idiot

Don't want to be an American

idiot.

Don't want a nation under the new mania

And can you

hear the sound of hysteria?

The subliminal mind fuck America.

Welcome to a new kind of tension.

All across the alien

nation.

Where everything isn't meant to be okay.

Television

dreams of tomorrow.

We're not the ones who're meant to

follow.

For that's enough to argue.

Well maybe

I'm the faggot America.

I'm not a part of a redneck

agenda.

Now everybody do the propaganda.

And sing along to the

age of paranoia.

Welcome to a new kind of tension.

All

across the alien nation.

Where everything isn't meant to be

okay.

Television dreams of tomorrow.

We're not the ones

who're meant to follow.

For that's enough to argue.

Don't want to be an American idiot.

One nation

controlled by the media.

Information age of hysteria.

It's

calling out to idiot America.

Welcome to a new kind of

tension.

All across the alien nation.

Where everything

isn't meant to be okay.

Television dreams of tomorrow.

We're not the ones who're meant to follow.

For that's

enough to argue.

1

  • What do you understand by the word Idiot? What does the dictionary say?

Vocab: match these words with the following definitions:

mania – hysteria – tension – alienantion – faggot – redneck – media.

  • a male homosexual,
  • a working-class white person from the south,
  • the feeling of being isolated,
  • the means of mass communication,
  • exaggerated or uncontrollable emotion,
  • mental strain,
  • Extreme enthusiasm or admiration.

Questions:

  • What do you know about Green day and about punk rock as a genre?
  • Explain each line in the song
  • What points are made about the USA? And aobut the media?
  • Why do you think Green day wrote this song? What do they want to achieve with it?
  • What role can music play in the political debate in a society?
  • How does society respond to these? Think also about how Marilyn Manson is presented in Bowling for Columbine.
  • Think of examples you know of bands/artists having political messages in their lyrics or being politically involved. How does this affect you?

1